Lost my 2 best, sweetest girls

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katsdar

katsdar

Crowing
10 Years
Jul 21, 2012
6,871
973
402
Armuchee, Georgia
I never thought I would be so upset about losing a chicken. But Big Red and Little Red were RIRs and the best egg layers. Big Red gave extra large eggs and she didn't mind me picking her up. I'm upset about both girls but more upset about Big Red. Both girls caught a cold and I was giving her the VetRX and keeping them warm in a special coop I made for them. But Big Red died last night and Little Red was in bad shape so I had my husband take care of her. Was there anything else anyone knows that I could have done different? The girls had water and vitamin water, food. The rest of my girls are ok. I really don't know how old these girls were I got them a year ago. On a happier note I do have a roo and a hen that are from the girls which is from which is anyone's guess but I still have a little bit of them. Thanks for letting me tell my story.
 
Wow thats hard, I am so sorry for your loss. It is amazing how attached we can get to these guys. I lost my best egg layer Annie (my avatar) and I cried like a baby. They say that chickens dont really catch colds, but they are really tricky to diagnose sometimes. Theres so many things that they can end up with and many times the symptons of different sicknesses can be very similar. You might want to consider a necropsy (its a chicken autopsy) a lot of states will do it for free you just have to pay for shipping. That way you will know for sure what happened to your girls. Did they have any sneezing or make any gurgling noises? I had a VERY tough time with infectious bronchitis and lost 6 baby chicks. Oh my gosh that was so hard.
hugs.gif
Hugs......
 
You should do a necropsy to make sure they did not have anything contagious. Unfortunately many illnesses are carried in the air, on shoes, and on cloths. Chickens don't get colds like we do. I am sorry for your loss.
 
Yes, infectious bronchitis for example is highly contagious, I learned that the hard way. The virus can travel up to 1000 yards in the air. It can also travel on you and you can then transfer it to other chickens.
 
Thank you all so much for your hugs. And I am so sorry for your losses. I did not think about a [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]necropsy and we buried the girls. They did have stuffed beaks, and labored breathing and yes Big Red at the end did have gurgling. Now that you mentioned that it can be carried on us, I was given a Banny family and one of the chicks died but her cold I thought was due to the fact that she got chilled and even though they were separated from each other I think they did come into close enough contact since it can be air borne too. Wow what a hard lesson to learn. [/FONT]
 
katsdar said:
Thank you all so much for your hugs. And I am so sorry for your losses. I did not think about a [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]necropsy and we buried the girls. They did have stuffed beaks, and labored breathing and yes Big Red at the end did have gurgling. Now that you mentioned that it can be carried on us, I was given a Banny family and one of the chicks died but her cold I thought was due to the fact that she got chilled and even though they were separated from each other I think they did come into close enough contact since it can be air borne too. Wow what a hard lesson to learn. [/FONT]
Click to expand...

When you get new chickens, quarantine them away from your existing flock for at least 6 weeks. This will give time for the new birds to show symptoms of most respiratory diseases, then you can make the decision to treat or cull, (I recommend cull.) Practice biosecurity.
While in quarantine, this will also give you time to visually inspect new birds for external parasites, injuries, bumps and bruises etc...also worm and treat injuries accordingly. Keep in mind that when purchasing new chickens, they may appear to be healthy and show no signs of problems. However, when you introduce them into a new environment...it stresses them. The stress can bring out "hidden" problems they may have. Chickens are experts at hiding health problems. They instinctively know that they will be susceptable to predator attack or even from their own kind if they show weakness.
 
Hi,
Thanks for the information and I will take your advice and make sure I keep them away from each other. Also I realized after talking to my husband and telling him that the virus can be carried on clothing, the 2 girls didn't mind me picking them up and I didn't change clothes after dealing with the new family. So it is totally my fault but I have learned and will not make that mistake again.
 

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